Kota's 3rd Birthday

Happy Birthday Dakota!

Kota's 3rd Birthday and her party were on the same day.  The day began with breakfast at IHOP.  Chad had to work and couldn't come to the party so I family joined hers and Mish at IHOP for breakfast!

She was surprised to see us all there when she got there!  She was even more surprised when practically every server in the place brought her ice cream and sang to her!  

I love this sweet picture of the two of them!

After breakfast, Dakota went home for a nap, Chad went to work, and Caleigh, Mish, and I went and did some shopping.  Then we headed to Dakota's house for her party!

So maybe the Great American Cookie Company can't decorate awesome all the time, at least it always tastes the same-----GREAT!

Shortly after the party began, Tinkerbell arrived!  She gave fairy wings, tattoos, and body glitter to anyone who wanted it.  She also helped the girls make themselves a goody bag.

All the little ones loved having party food with Tinkerbell!

And then the pony arrived!  It was ready to party too!  She was all dressed up as well!

Kota had such a good time at her party!  We were the last ones to leave and when we did, she was finally starting to feel the weight of her day!  Bedtime for that little fairy followed immediately as she clutched her favorite new present.  

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet Kota!  We hope you loved your day!

The Tooth Fairy Came!

Ever since the Tooth Fairy visited Caleigh's preschool, she has been obsessed with losing a tooth so the tooth fairy would come see her.  In fact, I think she probably wiggled her teeth until she found one who would move and she kept on moving it.  I warned her to stop messing with it or it might become really loose, but she didn't listen and it DID become really loose.  And it turned VERY DRAMATIC!

She complained that the tooth was hurting her and I told her I would pull it.  She became terrified and wouldn't let me near her.  She literally laid face down in the hallway screaming so I gave her the options of letting me pull it, her pulling it, or we could go to my parents house and let her granddaddy pull it.  I explained to her that he pulled all of mine when I was little as well as all of her aunts' teeth.  She wanted nothing to do with any of those options so I put her to bed screaming.  

I took a shower and when I got out, she was standing there dressed and no longer crying.  She told me to take her to see granddaddy.  So, at 8:30pm we loaded up and made the 20 minute drive to their house and waited for Chad to meet us there when he got off work.

I took one last picture of her with all of her teeth.

After a few tries and Caleigh backing away from fear, the following took place.

The after photo!

Then Caleigh decided that she just wasn't ready to part with her tooth.  So, she wrote a note asking the Tooth Fairy if she could please keep her tooth.  THEN, she went to bed and decided that she didn't want the Tooth Fairy to come in her room while she was sleeping.  We had to assure her that the fairy had a magic wand and wouldn't come in if Caleigh didn't want her to.  Drama, drama, drama! LOL!

After ALL the drama, Caleigh woke up with a toothless smile on her face.  She had her tooth, some money (she says she will use for games at Six Flags), and a sweet note from the Tooth Fairy.  

While she was super excited, I was secretly super sad, yet proud at the same time.  All I could see was her childhood slipping farther and farther away from her and from me.  My little girl is growing up way too fast!

Six Flags Mommy-Daughter Day

So I woke up one day and thought, I think I'll take Caleigh to Six Flags.  Why not?  Just me and her.  She would love it!  So, I got us ready and we headed out the door and when I loaded up the car, she figured out where we were going.  She was so excited!  We arrived right at lunchtime and were so pleased to have pleasant weather small crowds.  

This girl loves her some Six Flags.  It is a perfect time for her to go since she is under 54in which is required for all rides in Bugs Bunny World and she is over 48in which is required for most all of the larger rides (with the exception of those that require you be over 54in- Goliath, Superman, and Batman).  So, other than those three rides, Caleigh can ride EVERY SINGLE ride in the place!  And she does!

On this particular trip, we watched a few shows at Caleigh's request.  Caleigh got to meet, dance with, and have her picture taken with many of the Looney Toons favorites!

She even danced with Tweety Bird during one of the shows!

We had such a good time!  Just the two of us! I hope I remember this day when she's 15 instead of 5 and doesn't even want me to be in the same vicinity of her in the park!

Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day!

Chad has to work most every single Sunday of the year with the exception of Easter Sunday.  So, Father's Day was no different.  He had to work.  But, we wanted to make the time we had with him special.  So, we decorated the dining room for him again.  This time, we decorated in a generic superhero theme and we had a cinnamon roll breakfast.  Caleigh and I got Chad the Atlanta Braves hat he has been wanting and a new Atlanta Braves shirt.  We also go him a few other things as well.  

After he left for work, we headed to my parents' house to the pool to swim and have dinner with my dad.

Caleigh was having so much fun in the pool she literally wore herself out!  

While we were swimming, we got to smell these delicious ribs smoking right next to the pool.  They tortured us all afternoon until it was time to eat them.  

Although there is a knife in the picture, these ribs honestly did not need one.  They were fall off the bone, lip smacking, finger licking good!  

Chad was happy we saved him some.  And he even jumped in the pool with Caleigh after he got there that night.  

Everyone went to bed stuffed and exhausted!  A great way to end the day we celebrated the wonderful men in our lives!

Chad's Birthday

It's Chad's Birthday!

So Chad has always been a Superman fan.  Since childhood he has loved the Man of Steel.  This year, the new Superman movie, Man of Steel was set to premier the Friday after his birthday.  He was hoping there would be a midnight showing so he could go to the movie the night of his birthday, that prior Thursday.  

Lucky for us, Wal-Mart decided to sponsor a special engagement that allowed you to pre-purchase tickets for a special 7:00pm screening of the entire movie on Chad's actual birthday!

He woke up to a dining room decorated just for him with Man of Steel party decorations!

And I prepared red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing for him!  His favorite type of cake!

We wrapped and decorated the wrapping of all of his presents again this year.  Last year it was done out of necessity.  This year it was done because Caleigh wanted to do it again!  And yes, I freehanded that excellent Superman S all by myself!  (NO ARTISTIC ABILITY! LOL!)

Caleigh enjoyed helping him unwrap his presents almost as much as she enjoyed wrapping and decorating his presents.  (She never likes to SHOP for the presents.)

After presents were taken care of, we feasted on a big breakfast!  It was very delicious! Eggs, toast, and cheese grits!  YUM!

Since our plans were for the evening, we all headed to pick out the last of Chad's birthday presents.  He wanted some new furniture cushions for the patio furniture.  I took his picture as he was happily digging through all of them to try to find the right size pieces we needed.  This was NOT an easy task! And we still ended up getting one wrong size piece and forgetting one piece altogether!

Caleigh embraced the Superman-sort-of day and dressed herself in her Supergirl shirt. 

Our sweet friend volunteered to babysit Caleigh for us so we could go to dinner and the movie together!  I think her babysitting was one of Chad's most favorite birthday presents!  I bribed her to babysit by promising a double chocolate chip cookie cake!  It worked!  She watched 4 kids during a pretty wicked severe thunderstorm.  We watched the super long movie despite the three power outages at the theater.  

This is a very fun and very memorable night for Chad and I.  I got to spend his birthday night with just him (and his childhood hero)  ; )  Some kids get to stay kids much longer than others!  Happy Birthday Chad!  We love you!

Water Day at Six Flags with the A Team

We love going to Six Flags.  Caleigh is a thrill junkie.  She loves roller coasters and anything that makes her feel like she's flying.  She also loves the water!  Lucky for us, there is an entire water park complete with open and enclosed water slides for us to enjoy inside of of Six Flags.  On the hottest day of the year so far, we decide to have a water day at Six Flags with Austin, Anthony, and Aiden, our "A Team".  Caleigh was beyond excited and actually, so was Chad. 

After loading everyone down with tons of sunblock, we set out for the slides.  Chad, Caleigh, and the two older A's headed up to the tallest and longest slides and Ronnie, Aiden, and I stayed closer to the smaller slides and water cannons.  

After conquering many of the slides, some multiple times, the kids wanted to ride the other water rides in the park.  We headed over to Splash Waterfalls and Thunder River.  Aiden and I didn't ride Thunder River but we waited with our water cannon ready to fire on everyone else while they were on the ride!

And, yes, I still take a stroller to Six Flags for my 5 year old.  It serves two purposes.  One, it hauls around all my stuff so I don't have to and saves me from having to rent a ride locker to hold my belongings if I want to ride a coaster that requires one.  And, two, it hauls around Caleigh after she's gotten too tired to walk.  She's much to heavy to carry!  I would much rather wheel around a hot, tired, cranky child than drag one around!

We actually took a pic together!

This kid loves a camera!  He wants his picture taken as much as he wants the camera to take my picture!  He is such a ham!  Love it!

We had a very fun day at the waterpark.  Unfortunately, I think the chemicals in the waterpark needed some adjustment.  Caleigh spent the entire next morning vomiting and the A Team spent the morning stuck in their bathroom.  Everyone seemed ok by the afternoon and I believe it had something to do with the chemicals (or lack thereof) in the water.  Caleigh was pitiful!  She HATES not feeling well and I hate it for her. Luckily, it didn't last long and she was already wanting to go back to Six Flags by that evening! Typical thrill junkie!

Adventures in LegoLand

Chad had a few days off for his birthday so I had to come up with things for us to do.  One of the things we decided to do was take a trip to Lego Land.  We had never been there before but it seemed like a good idea for both Chad and Caleigh.  And, I was right!  

A 4D movie was awesome to experience!

Getting ready to ride Merlin!

Riding Merlin!

Hopscotch with Lego Friends!

Building with giant Legos was giant fun!

They also have a Lego replica of the city of Atlanta!  We loved this one of the Varsity!

And Caleigh loved Turner Field! Go Braves!

There were also places to build Lego cars and race them.  Unfortunately, I apparently only know how to build racing "tractors"!  LOL

But, Chad and Caleigh built a car and raced it and jumped it over and over again!

Overall, we had a pretty awesome trip!  No one was bored and there were smiles on everyone's face.  LegoLand was a hit but I would stick to taking a trip during the week when it is cheaper to go.  I don't see the value in $20 per adult but the $11 per adult seems well worth it!